In the production of furniture and the like it is often necessary to produce in quantity identical unusually shaped parts. Legs for tables, headboards for beds, and the like are cut from workpiece blanks and must be identical in all respects.
The most common practice for such elements is to secure to them a template having the shape desired. A router arrangement having a smooth collar is used to cut this shape into the workpiece, the collar riding against the template while the cutting bit engages and shapes the workpiece. Clearly such a method requires a very secure attachment of the template to the workpiece and of the workpiece to a table or the like. Similarly each workpiece must have its own template. Such an arrangement is quite difficult when used with arrangements wherein a plurality of workpieces are mounted on respective carriages or dollies that move along a transport path past a plurality of work stations.